The subject matter described herein relates to a shirt or garment which covers the upper torso of a wearer. Specifically, embodiments are directed to a support shirt providing support along the chest and shoulder regions of the wearer. The support shirt can be used for sporting activities where support of the chest and shoulders is desired. One such application of the support shirt is a bench press shirt for support in weightlifting activities.
Bench press shirts provide an increase in the amount of weight a bench presser can lift as well as increased safety to the bench presser. Typically, bench press shirts are made of high strength materials, such as double knit polyester, canvas or denim which are designed to fit the wearer tightly. Such bench press shirts have portions covering the upper arms and chest which typically provide a taut fit during lifting. Bench press shirts can also be made of spandex type fabric and be effective for support. As distinguished from ordinary shirts or t-shirts, bench press shirts have at least one area of increased support/strength, designed to augment movement of a body part by increased strength of material and/or compression.
In a bench pressing exercise, a weightlifter lies substantially flat on his back, with arms upraised. The weightlifter lowers a weight to the chest, and then pushes it vertically upward until the arms are straight. The tautness in a typical bench press shirt provides assistance and increased support for the underlying muscles, thereby allowing the weightlifter to lift more weight.
Bench press shirts rely on the tautness of the fabric across the chest of a user for support during lifting. It is desirable for a bench press shirt to have forward tilted sleeves, corresponding with the position of the arms during lifting. In some bench press shirts, the patterns for the front and back of the shirt, when sewn together, form arm holes. Other bench press shirts utilize a round hole sleeve pattern in the front of the shirt. In such a pattern, the shirt has two straight sleeves sewn into round holes in the front of the shirt body. Such round hole shirts may result in erratic bar movement during lifting because a great amount of stress occurs in the fabric along the very narrow chest plate between the sleeves and at the seams where the sleeves are attached to the shirt body. The entire forward sleeve tilt in round hole shirts depends on a very narrow chest plate in the design of the shirt. Therefore, a need exists in this art for a bench press shirt which spreads the stress on the fabric over a larger area while still utilizing a round hole shirt design.